Favorite
This dive bar staple has a pool table, arcade games, nightly food pop-ups, and some of the friendliest bartenders in Houston. We love coming here when “Pupusa Mami” is slinging her Salvadoran treats. Read more...
Favorite
Whose silly idea was it to pack a vending machine full of Ring Pops, grape-flavored rolling papers, and gag gifts such as the self-explanatory “Nail Thru Finger”? Our money is on the bleary-eyed, top-hat-wearing pachyderm who serves as both spirit animal and namesake for this Washington Ave. sleeper. Situated comfortably in the uncanny valley between dive bar and cocktail purveyor, Read more...
Favorite
A friendly neighborhood bar with a solid trivia night and, during football season, watching parties for fans of the Philadelphia Eagles. Read more...
Favorite
This beachy dive seems plucked straight from the heart of Midtown or Washington Avenue and right into the middle of downtown’s skyscrapers. If you’re thirsty after a night of theater, dance, or live music and want something exuberant and unfussy to cap off your time downtown, head to Sunny’s for a few rounds of pool, darts, and foosball. You may Read more...
Favorite
If you need proof that Houston is weirder than Austin, head straight to Notsuoh, a Main Street staple since 1996. This dive is more like a living museum of oddities than a traditional bar, and you kind of have to go there to see what we mean. The three-story building shows Notsuoh’s commitment to all things experimental and eccentric with Read more...
Favorite
A dive bar in the Rice area, Under the Volcano is a cool, casual place to grab a drink with friends. Adorned with tribal masks and light fixtures, with lots of seating and low-volume music, Under the Volcano’s relaxed atmosphere makes for the perfect hang-out spot. Drinks are slightly pricier than your usual dive bar ($7-8), but delicious, nevertheless. Their Read more...
Favorite
If you find yourself without a weekend boil to crash at a friend’s house, we suggest heading to this bar housed in a double-wide trailer, where you’ll find a welcoming, laid-back atmosphere. Sure, the crawfish aren’t free, but they’re dirt-cheap—and so are the ice-cold beers. Read more...
Favorite
Lots of places claim their beers are the coldest, but somebody has to be telling the truth, right? That somebody may just be Alice’s, where dirt-cheap Shiners and Lone Stars are quaffed from infamous frosty goblets, and in a strikingly un-skeevy milieu (as cash-only dive bars go, that is) lit by neon beer signs and fueled by a diverse array of bodies Read more...
Favorite
Ironically, Rice undergrads tend to avoid this bar, run by grad students out of a tiny basement under the chemistry building. Gone are the days when a handful of change would buy you a Valhalla round, but it’s still one of the best places for dirt-cheap local brews, which are best enjoyed on the leafy surrounding quad. Read more...